VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Minister of Environment and Forestry Siti Nurbaya Bakar has said that the Indonesian Government will accelerate mangrove rehabilitation to recover around 600 thousand hectares of mangrove land by 2024.

"There has been a lot of experience from the late 1990s, 2003, and so on, regarding how to transform ponds--whether salt ponds or shrimp ponds and others--to mangrove ecosystems,” she said after the launch of the 2021 National Mangrove Map here on Wednesday.

According to the minister, mangroves have now become a global issue.

As one of the countries with the largest mangrove ecosystems in the world, Indonesia is paying close attention to mangrove issues, which is being realized through President Joko Widodo's policy of establishing the Peatland and Mangrove Restoration Agency (BRGM) to accelerate rehabilitation, she said.

According to the latest data from the National Mangrove Map, there are 3,364,080 hectares of mangroves in Indonesia, which reflects an increase of 52,873 hectares from 3,311,207 hectares in 2013-2019.

In the 3,364,080 hectares of mangrove land, there are variations in the canopy classification from good to sparse.

Regarding mangrove lands with sparse canopy to damaged canopy, the government is targeting to recover around 600 thousand hectares by 2024, the minister said.

“There are many ways (for the acceleration). From the government side, there are state budget and regional budget. There are also the supports from the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and SOEs (state-owned enterprises) as well as the outstanding initiatives from the community, for example, tree adoption,” she said.

In addition, the Ministry of Environment and Forestry has also asked permit holders to rehabilitate mangroves in their area, she added. (Antaranews)